Dropping us an email from across The Bay, the guys at BRD sent us this cool video by Sam Erickson, which follows the BRD team as they got ready to launch the BRD RedShift electric supermotard. Following the San Francisco company over July & August, we get a glimpse of the finally design and assembly of the Redshift, along with the bike’s launch in San Francisco (bonus points if you can spot my face during the unveiling).

We’ve been following BRD pretty closely the past few months, and while we can’t share too much of what we’ve seen and heard (rumors of a helium-filled front wheel are probably only slightly exaggerated), CEO Marc Fenigstein tells us that Monday next week will see the startup release the BRD Redshift’s final technical specifications, along with the retail pricing. As for the video, it’s well very well done, and captures the small team at BRD hard at work bringing ICE parity to the EV space. Check it out after the jump.

Can people please stop posting their videos through Vimeo, it’s the worst video hosting site ever…

The BRD products are cool, but there is still a problem. I understand that the EV companies are choosing the light-weight dirt/supermoto segment to debut their products due to the weight advantage needed to make the available power these things make relevant to performance. Yet, thats probably the least appealing market for a start-up bike manufacture. Out of all the motorcycles sold every year, what percentage is supermotos, 3%? Dirtbike riders wont take EV seriously until its reliable enough to do what they are suppose to do, which is be abused beyond the capabilities of a “normal” motorcycle. Remenber the Zero bikes that broke frames from just a simple jump??

Instead they should probably focus on the one market segment that most manufactures have ignored, but still appeals to the general sporting motorcycle market. The segment is small 125-250cc-sized sportbikes. The BRD would be A LOT more appealing if it was a 250GP size lightweight sportbike. Then the E-motor would be utilized in an innovative manner, and EV’s would have a market almost all to themselves…

On durability – our frame is designed for professional supercross. The bike in the video has already been cartwheeled across pavement and survived just fine.

A lightweight sportbike is in the roadmap but there are a lot of good reasons we’re going after MX and SM initially. First, MX and SM are established race formats where electric can compete with gas (and win) on gas’s home turf. The numbers don’t yet work out for a Moto3-type bike. We weren’t interested in building a bike if it wasn’t going to win conventional races. Likewise, on the street, our supermoto has the potential to be the fastest street legal bike in it’s category – only an Aprilia SXV will come close (when you’re not changing the oil). In the sportbike category, as fun as 250s are, they are the little brothers to 600 and 1000cc bikes. Finally the distances traveled on SM and MX bikes is much shorter than sport bikes. We wanted to build a bike that fit the existing usage/range, not force our customers to adapt.

With all of that said, I WANT a 250 equiv high performance sport bike. If I still had an income, I’d be on the waitlist for an NRS250. When battery densities improve, I promise you, we’ll build one.

KillerKW

A small road racer type electric cycle would be pretty cool, and probably a lot of fun, but that doesn’t really work for the streets of San Francisco. Having passed through the city only once (during rush hour of all times), I believe an electric supermoto would be a much better tool for carving up the traffic. It seems these guys are looking to sell to the kind of guy who wants slick transportation for lane-splitting in a big city and picking up eco-conscious babes at the coffee shop/used book store (not a bad life).

Its certainly hard to accept that a company isn’t necessarily looking to sell to you at this given moment with a given product, but if you find yourself not liking what they offer, that is probably the case. Plain and simple, if you think there is a market for something, go out and build it, maybe they will come.

Finally, cheers to all those out there building, right here in the US of A, the commuters of tomorrow, electric motorcycles. I’d take one any day over the crappy little chinese scooters all over my town.

In addition to the reasons listed above by Marc, I would add that MX and especially enduro style EV offer another big advantage which would not be one (quite the opposite) for road racers: silence!

This way you could go almost anywhere, any trail, any woods without disturbing families, hikers or the wildlife. Without this noise pollution, enduro could be much more popular amongst the non-bikers population. And I think being considered less of a nuisance is a HUGE advantage for this kind of usage!

Bruce Monighan

At the end of the video, the bike leaving the garage looks suspiciously like a Trials bike..width, foot pegs, rear tire width, standing position, handlebar/ arm orientation. Comments BRD?

BobD

Wow, props for making a gorgeous SM in house! If this thing could last 3 hours on a charge for a full day of SM practice and the batteries were hardy enough to do that for atleast 2 seasons. (because id hate to buy one, have the bike be able to run for three hours the first year and then next year can barely do an hour)

I would be down or getting one. question: could you incorporate engine braking (regenerative brakes) to do the same as backing it in does on a 4T when you downshift a bunch of gears and feather the clutch to let the rear come around a bit before an apex.

Bruce, good eye. We didn’t stage any of these shots – Sam had to work around us and capture what he could from actual R&D and build – so the tail section was off for that particular test ride. Also, Derek was dodging a palette of material. No trials version planned in the near future, but lack of clutch/stalling makes low speed maneuvers so easy it’s like cheating.

BobD, we will be more certain as we rack up test hours this Fall and Winter, but right now the range looks to be about 50 miles or 2 hours of clock time for rec trail use. I’ll be the first to say that’s not enough for a full practice day, though it IS enough for a race itself. We’re exploring fast charging to make a full practice day possible but that won’t be ready with initial production. As for longevity, the pack is engineered for 1000hr life and we expect about 500hrs in real world use. At that satge the pack still has full power and 80% capacity. Most MXers don’t last past 200hrs, and the cost of battery replacement is less than the cost of 4T engine rebuilds you would have gone through after 500hrs.

Alexontwowheels

Badass video. Nice work. Wasn’t sure if it was a promo video for the bike, or the tourism board for San Francisco…. but either way, really nice. clap. clap.

Dr. Gellar

@ Marc F

I’m quite excited to know that you guys want to make a 250cc equivalent electric sportbike (once the battery technology gets there, as you say). In the meantime, does BRD have any plans down the road to create a TTXGP racebike on which such a sportbike might be based?!

The Redshift looks superb, the best-looking electric production bike of any kind I’ve seen yet. Purposeful, yet elegant. I’d love to see you guys do, if you end up making an electric sportbike, something along the lines of a neo-cafe racer. But that is just me.

Can’t wait to see your products stack up against ICE machines.

Dr. Gellar

I meant to say… “Can’t wait to see how your products stack up against ICE machines.”

KyleG

I really really like what you guys are doing. Maybe you’ll be hiring once I graduate :D

Awesome video and looks like an amazing product you have here. I’m excited to hear or see more details on the electric guts. Good Luck to BRD

mxs

I hope that the current battery density/price ratio will allow you to stay in business long enough. This to me is single handedly the biggest problem. Too much money for too short run time. My supermoto fun rides are around couple of hours, I cannot be sweating bullets every time I go out. Spare battery will cost fortune as well …

Having said that, I love the design of the bike. Just the darn batteries …

MXS, I hear you and believe me I have the same hopes. Right now we are squeezing about as much range out of a 250lbs bike as is physically possible, but we know it won’t work for everyone. For those that fit the range, it’ll be the most fun thing they can throw a leg over; for those that need more range, you’ll have to wait a few (several) years.

CJ

I like the supermoto. Nice job on the styling. It is probably a lot of fun to ride!

Bob

The video was cool and all, but how about some substance along with the fluff? Talk about your bike’s capabilities, specs, why you’re a company I’d buy from…etc.

RJ

Thanks for the response Marc!

It’s great to hear that you guys really are looking into other applications for your powertrain technology. Trust me when I say a 250GP EV bike would be a perfect track-day tool. Efficient, light-weight, and especially (nowadays) dead silent. Also range isn’t a problem at a track-day.

I understand your want to get into racing via MX/SM configurations, and I’m totally down for it. I’m from the “racing improves the breed” school of thought. Unfortunately everyone knows that until the big OEM’s start taking EV’s seriously they’ll never be more than a side-show, even on an basically even playing field performance wise, though thankfully because of committed companies like yours this gets better everyday. Why the OEM’s won’t step out of their fossil fuel mentality’s is a whole other cup of soup I’m not even going to get into here.

Yet, I still don’t see how the numbers “don’t work out” for a moto-3 type road/track bike. Power is not the key here, or range, but rather riding enjoyment and chassis prowess. 50hp and 280lbs dry would be a hell of a lot fun, and none-to-shabby in the quickness department. I also don’t agree with the views that small displacement bikes are the small brothers of 600’s and 1000’s. That’s pidgin-holing an awesome motorcycle segment that gets little love here in the states. Unfortunately we came to an era in motorcycling a few years ago where a lot of bike could be bought for not a lot of money and this kinda distorted peoples views in a way. Still, small-displacement sport bikes should be viewed as a niche of their own, with handling merits bigger bikes can only dream of. It’s up to companies like yours to educate consumers on their merits vs bigger bikes. If you’ve pegged your market right consumers will always adapt if the trade-off is a positive one. Heck most modern liter bikes will barely get 90-100 miles out of a tank is ridden as intended and EV range is getting realistically closer to that target everyday!

I don’t think EV’s are developed to the point yet of making them an only-choice option for commuters. So why not embrace that and focus on making products for pure sport enjoyment?

It’s worth really thinking about it in that sense.

Those NSF250R’s are sweet….. ;)

I look forward to the keeping track of your company’s future developments and wish you guys all the best in the future!

Mariela Birman

Awesome website! Where’d ya get your background? Hopefully you update it daily so I can read up on more of your posts ^^